Friday, March 04, 2005

ReutersBAGHDAD - Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena has been freed by her captors but U.S. forces mistakenly opened fire on the convoy taking her to safety, wounding her and killing an Italian secret service agent.

AP"At approximately 8:55 p.m. tonight, coalition forces assigned to the multinational force Iraq fired on a vehicle that was approaching a coalition checkpoint in Baghdad at a high rate of speed"

The story from Reuters is preposterous, the Italians mistakenly drove at a high rate of speed right at US soldiers at a checkpoint. Don't even get me started on the Al Jazeera "coverage" of this story. It is sad that someone died in the incident, but imagine the headlines if the speeding car was a suicide bomber and killed a number of US soldiers, Iraqi military, Iraqi police, or civilians. I guess for Reuters and Al Jazeera, that doesn't matter because both angles would be useful for their respective agenda. The editors at Reuters should note that in the same story they include this news, further vindicating the soldier's actions:

ReutersIn the restive northern city of Mosul, a car bomb exploded near a U.S. military convoy. Al Qaeda's wing in Iraq issued an Internet statement claiming responsibility for the blast and saying it was a suicide bombing. The U.S. military said it had no immediate information on any casualties

UPDATE:

CNNU.S. troops "attempted to warn the driver to stop by hand and arm signals, flashing white lights, and firing warning shots in front of the car," the statement said. "When the driver didn't stop, the soldiers shot into the engine block, which stopped the vehicle, killing one and wounding two others."

Case closed. Hostage is freed, soldiers did all they could to prevent the shooting. Retraction from Al Jazeera in 5...4...3...2...1, well I won't hold my breath for that one.